Hey Guys,
I've been writing an NCAA column for Bobby B. Would enjoy some comments from all you college hockey fans. This is the first sports research I've ever done NOT related to gambling. I'm a UND fan and know the WCHA best, so comments from you eastern guys would be especially helpful. This week's article below.
NCAA REPORT: REGULAR SEASON FINALE - February 25, 2002
OK, college hockey fans, the end of the regular season is upon us and conference tournaments loom ahead. In every conference, there are games this coming weekend that will determine home ice for the first round of the playoffs and which teams will line up against each other in the first round. How important is the conference tournament to each team? Do these tournaments determine whether your team will advance to the NCAA East or West region playoffs on the road to the Frozen Four?
The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee selects 12 teams to compete for the national championship. There are 5 automatic berths given to each major conference (WCHA, HEA, CCHA, ECAC, & MAAC). Each conference awards its? automatic bid to the winner of the conference tournament. The remaining 7 at-large bids will closely follow the Pair-Wise rankings. For a team ranked 8th or below in the Pair-Wise rankings to be assured of playing for the national championship, they must come up big and win their conference tournament. Maine and Colorado College are ?on the bubble? in the eighth and ninth spots. They both ?should? get in, but would bolster their positions by winning a few games down the stretch. Below this, a tournament win is the only sure way in. Some of the better teams in this situation are Alaska-Fairbanks, Western Michigan, Northern Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha, Northeastern, Umass-Lowell, Ohio State, and Boston College. A top-seven Pair-Wise ranked team that loses in its? conference tournament will get a regional tournament berth. However, in addition to pride, these teams are vying for a top-four seed and the first round bye that comes with the honor of this designation.
In the WCHA conference tournament, as well as in the ECAC & CHA, the key to a successful playoff run often hinges on obtaining a top-three seed. A fourth or fifth seed may obtain home ice for round one of the playoffs, but if every home team defends their ice successfully, the fourth and fifth ranked teams have a ?play-in? game while the top three teams skip into the semi-finals. This means that the fourth or fifth seed must win three games in three nights to take the conference tourney title. How tough is that? It?s never been done in the WCHA.
So, who?s playing for what? Let?s look at each conference.
WCHA. Denver leads St. Cloud State by one point after these two teams split last weekend in Denver. The St. Cloud players would love to win the MacNaughton Cup for coach Craig Dahl, but need some help from North Dakota. St. Cloud finishes the year home and home with the Minnesota Gophers while DU travels to UND. Both of these teams, in addition to the Gophers will have home ice for the first round of the conference tournament. The fourth position is locked up as well by Colorado College. CC had a very disappointing trip to Alaska, losing two games to the Seawolves last weekend. CC now has no chance at the coveted third position. The battle in the WCHA is for fifth. Alaska-Anchorage and MSU-Mankato are each one point ahead of Wisconsin, but both have completed conference play. Wisconsin hosts Duluth and will claim the fifth home ice position with a win or two over the Bulldogs. UND has the biggest hill to climb as they host Denver this weekend and are a point behind Wisconsin as they stand right now.
HOCKEY EAST. Two skirmishes in Hockey East are on tap. There?s the fight for first place (subtitled ? ?Who doesn?t want BC in round one??) and then there?s the fight for fourth (home ice for round one). New Hampshire has the inside track in the fight for first. The Wildcats have a game in hand (against Amherst), so should enter the final two game series a point ahead of BU. In the HEA tournament, the top four teams host teams 5 ? 8 in a best-of-three series. No real big advantage for any of these teams over the others except for the ?BC factor?. On January 27, the Boston College Eagles had lost six straight games and were a very ordinary 12-12-2. The defending national champions weren?t looking very champion-like at that point. All the HEA coaches knew, however, that when the BC skaters healed from early-season injury woes, they could not be taken lightly. Indeed, the Eagles have now rattled off six wins in their last eight games and are looking like the team you would most like to avoid until the finals. Boston College is currently in sixth place and all eyes will be on them this weekend as they host Maine. The three teams fighting for fourth are Umass-Lowell, Northeastern, and BC.
CCHA. The top two spots in the CCHA are set with Michigan and Michigan State. The CCHA tournament has all twelve teams playing in the first round, the top six hosting the bottom six in a best-of-three series. Following that, the top two seeds are advanced to the semi-finals. Barring upset, the two Michigan powers should claim these two spots. The home ice battle is in the sixth position, where Western Michigan leads Ohio State by three points. However, the Buckeye faithful haven?t given up hope for a home playoff series. Western Michigan finishes this weekend home and home with Michigan while OSU is home and home with Miami. OSU could pull off the four-point weekend and sneak past Western Michigan, then turn around and host them the following weekend in round one. Western Michigan can control its? fate by taking a couple points from the Wolverines.
ECAC. The ECAC takes the top 10 of its? 12 teams into a tournament format just like the WCHA (final five with 4 vs. 5 play-in). Cornell is #1, Vermont is #12, but other than that it?s wide open. Princeton, Union, St. Lawrence, and Rensselaer are fighting to stay out of 11th. Clarkson, Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, Colgate, and Rensselaer are battling for positions 2 ? 5 with the real prize being either the #2 & #3 spots as noted above. This race is wide open and almost anything could happen this weekend, so I?ll wait until next week to comment on the ECAC tournament. Cornell is currently #11 in the Pair Wise rankings, so it is unlikely any team other than the tournament champ will go on to an NCAA regional game.
MAAC. This conference still has two weeks to go in its? regular season, so I?ll wait until next week to comment. Mercyhurst will be #1 easily after dominating the regular season. The bottom three teams are already out (American International, Bentley, and Fairfield). The battle here is for the home ice game (single game first round) given to seeds 1 ? 4. All seven teams below Mercyhurst have a chance at spots 2 - 4.
CHA. This is the only conference with no automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Conference Champion Wayne State is ranked #25 in Pair Wise, so there will be no NCAA bid given to anyone from the CHA. The debate from here is this ? why is the MAAC given an automatic bid and not the CHA? The CHA has a 25-6-0 record vs. the MAAC this year and probably deserves the automatic bid before the MAAC does (this year anyway). Maybe a better solution would be for these two conference champs to ?play-in? for the final automatic spot. Anyway, congratulations to Wayne State for an excellent year and good luck in the CHA conference tournament.
The VERY DEBATABLE Top-10:
1. St. Cloud State
2. Denver
3. New Hampshire
4. Michigan State
5. Boston University
6. Minnesota
7. Michigan
8. Colorado College
9. Maine
10. Alaska-Fairbanks
jatski :shrug:
I've been writing an NCAA column for Bobby B. Would enjoy some comments from all you college hockey fans. This is the first sports research I've ever done NOT related to gambling. I'm a UND fan and know the WCHA best, so comments from you eastern guys would be especially helpful. This week's article below.
NCAA REPORT: REGULAR SEASON FINALE - February 25, 2002
OK, college hockey fans, the end of the regular season is upon us and conference tournaments loom ahead. In every conference, there are games this coming weekend that will determine home ice for the first round of the playoffs and which teams will line up against each other in the first round. How important is the conference tournament to each team? Do these tournaments determine whether your team will advance to the NCAA East or West region playoffs on the road to the Frozen Four?
The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee selects 12 teams to compete for the national championship. There are 5 automatic berths given to each major conference (WCHA, HEA, CCHA, ECAC, & MAAC). Each conference awards its? automatic bid to the winner of the conference tournament. The remaining 7 at-large bids will closely follow the Pair-Wise rankings. For a team ranked 8th or below in the Pair-Wise rankings to be assured of playing for the national championship, they must come up big and win their conference tournament. Maine and Colorado College are ?on the bubble? in the eighth and ninth spots. They both ?should? get in, but would bolster their positions by winning a few games down the stretch. Below this, a tournament win is the only sure way in. Some of the better teams in this situation are Alaska-Fairbanks, Western Michigan, Northern Michigan, Nebraska-Omaha, Northeastern, Umass-Lowell, Ohio State, and Boston College. A top-seven Pair-Wise ranked team that loses in its? conference tournament will get a regional tournament berth. However, in addition to pride, these teams are vying for a top-four seed and the first round bye that comes with the honor of this designation.
In the WCHA conference tournament, as well as in the ECAC & CHA, the key to a successful playoff run often hinges on obtaining a top-three seed. A fourth or fifth seed may obtain home ice for round one of the playoffs, but if every home team defends their ice successfully, the fourth and fifth ranked teams have a ?play-in? game while the top three teams skip into the semi-finals. This means that the fourth or fifth seed must win three games in three nights to take the conference tourney title. How tough is that? It?s never been done in the WCHA.
So, who?s playing for what? Let?s look at each conference.
WCHA. Denver leads St. Cloud State by one point after these two teams split last weekend in Denver. The St. Cloud players would love to win the MacNaughton Cup for coach Craig Dahl, but need some help from North Dakota. St. Cloud finishes the year home and home with the Minnesota Gophers while DU travels to UND. Both of these teams, in addition to the Gophers will have home ice for the first round of the conference tournament. The fourth position is locked up as well by Colorado College. CC had a very disappointing trip to Alaska, losing two games to the Seawolves last weekend. CC now has no chance at the coveted third position. The battle in the WCHA is for fifth. Alaska-Anchorage and MSU-Mankato are each one point ahead of Wisconsin, but both have completed conference play. Wisconsin hosts Duluth and will claim the fifth home ice position with a win or two over the Bulldogs. UND has the biggest hill to climb as they host Denver this weekend and are a point behind Wisconsin as they stand right now.
HOCKEY EAST. Two skirmishes in Hockey East are on tap. There?s the fight for first place (subtitled ? ?Who doesn?t want BC in round one??) and then there?s the fight for fourth (home ice for round one). New Hampshire has the inside track in the fight for first. The Wildcats have a game in hand (against Amherst), so should enter the final two game series a point ahead of BU. In the HEA tournament, the top four teams host teams 5 ? 8 in a best-of-three series. No real big advantage for any of these teams over the others except for the ?BC factor?. On January 27, the Boston College Eagles had lost six straight games and were a very ordinary 12-12-2. The defending national champions weren?t looking very champion-like at that point. All the HEA coaches knew, however, that when the BC skaters healed from early-season injury woes, they could not be taken lightly. Indeed, the Eagles have now rattled off six wins in their last eight games and are looking like the team you would most like to avoid until the finals. Boston College is currently in sixth place and all eyes will be on them this weekend as they host Maine. The three teams fighting for fourth are Umass-Lowell, Northeastern, and BC.
CCHA. The top two spots in the CCHA are set with Michigan and Michigan State. The CCHA tournament has all twelve teams playing in the first round, the top six hosting the bottom six in a best-of-three series. Following that, the top two seeds are advanced to the semi-finals. Barring upset, the two Michigan powers should claim these two spots. The home ice battle is in the sixth position, where Western Michigan leads Ohio State by three points. However, the Buckeye faithful haven?t given up hope for a home playoff series. Western Michigan finishes this weekend home and home with Michigan while OSU is home and home with Miami. OSU could pull off the four-point weekend and sneak past Western Michigan, then turn around and host them the following weekend in round one. Western Michigan can control its? fate by taking a couple points from the Wolverines.
ECAC. The ECAC takes the top 10 of its? 12 teams into a tournament format just like the WCHA (final five with 4 vs. 5 play-in). Cornell is #1, Vermont is #12, but other than that it?s wide open. Princeton, Union, St. Lawrence, and Rensselaer are fighting to stay out of 11th. Clarkson, Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, Colgate, and Rensselaer are battling for positions 2 ? 5 with the real prize being either the #2 & #3 spots as noted above. This race is wide open and almost anything could happen this weekend, so I?ll wait until next week to comment on the ECAC tournament. Cornell is currently #11 in the Pair Wise rankings, so it is unlikely any team other than the tournament champ will go on to an NCAA regional game.
MAAC. This conference still has two weeks to go in its? regular season, so I?ll wait until next week to comment. Mercyhurst will be #1 easily after dominating the regular season. The bottom three teams are already out (American International, Bentley, and Fairfield). The battle here is for the home ice game (single game first round) given to seeds 1 ? 4. All seven teams below Mercyhurst have a chance at spots 2 - 4.
CHA. This is the only conference with no automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Conference Champion Wayne State is ranked #25 in Pair Wise, so there will be no NCAA bid given to anyone from the CHA. The debate from here is this ? why is the MAAC given an automatic bid and not the CHA? The CHA has a 25-6-0 record vs. the MAAC this year and probably deserves the automatic bid before the MAAC does (this year anyway). Maybe a better solution would be for these two conference champs to ?play-in? for the final automatic spot. Anyway, congratulations to Wayne State for an excellent year and good luck in the CHA conference tournament.
The VERY DEBATABLE Top-10:
1. St. Cloud State
2. Denver
3. New Hampshire
4. Michigan State
5. Boston University
6. Minnesota
7. Michigan
8. Colorado College
9. Maine
10. Alaska-Fairbanks
jatski :shrug: